Wall panel structure



June 1955 M. M. FlNK I WALL. PANEL STRUCTURE Filed Jan. 24, 1952 w ww vi M a z i W :5 q A a L v 2 a 4 mm H M i 3nventor Mar/Mfibk w Ill:

will I III! lllrullllllnll (Ittorneg United States Patent WALL PANEL STRUCTURE Mearl M. Fink, Toledo, Ohio, assignor to Martin-Parry Corporation, Toledo, Ohio, a corporation of Delaware Application January 24, 1952, Serial No. 267,988

3 Claims. (Cl. 189-85) This invention relates to wall panel structures and particularly to wall panels of a prefabricated nature whereby such panels may be readily mounted on a supporting structure to form partition walls or the like. The wall panel structure of the present invention constitutes an improvement of the panel shown and described in the patent to Small, 2,277,791, dated March 31, 1942. The panel of the present invention is intended to be employed in the same general manner as that shown in the patent identified above.

In general, the wall panel comprises a cover sheet of metal, preferably cold rolled steel which may be of about 20 gauge and a filler or stiffening board of such materials as bonded cane fiber, bonded wood fiber, plywood, asbestos and cement, Fiberglas or any similar rigid or semi-rigid filler. The entire panel is constructed of the two elements. The metal sheet constitutes the outer or front face of the panel, overlying the filler board and having its edge portions turned backwardly and inwardly to define resilient means to engage a supporting structure and also to overlie the edges of the filler to hold the same in assembled relation to the cover plate. The means for engaging a supporting structure comprise generally a channel formed by the cover sheet material and adapted to resiliently engage projections on a support whereby the panels may be merely pressed into place and will be held in such position as long as desired.

It is therefore on object of this invention to provide an improved panel structure that is simple in construction and involving a minimum number of parts.

Another object of the invention is to provide a prefabricated wall panel of a minimum number of parts with integral support engaging means which are completely concealed when the panel is mounted.

Another object of this invention is to provide a prefabricated panel which may be mounted adjacent similar panels to define a flush wall surface with line joints between the panels.

' It'is' a still further object of this invention to provide such a wall panel involving a minimum number of parts for providing for resilient support engaging means whereby the panel may be readily applied to a supporting structure or removed therefrom.

Another object of this invention is to provide a wall panel structure permitting accurate dimensional control during manufacture.

Additional and further objects will appear to those skilled in the art as the description proceeds in connection with the accompanying drawings wherein:

Fig. 1 is an end view of a panel constructed in accordance with the present invention, with the mid-portion of the panel broken away to conserve space;

Fig. 2 is a view similar to Fig. 1 but showing the panel of the present invention at an intermediate stage of assembly;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary edge view of a portion of adjacent panels mounted on a supporting structure;

i or otherwise treated outer or front surface.

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of a corner portion of a panel constructed in accordance with the present invention.

The panel of the present invention comprises an outer or cover plate 2 of sheet metal. The cover plate is preferably of cold rolled steel sheet having some resilience or springy characteristics. A filler board 4 lies against the rear face of the cover plate 2 and is preferably cemented or bonded thereto by any suitable adhesive cement which may be applied either to the cover plate or to the filler board, or both, before assembly. The filler board 4 may be of any desired material, depending upon the characteristics desired in the finished panel. It the panel is to provide some heat insulation, a suitable heat insulating filler board would be employed. -If the panel is to provide sound insulation the filler board 4 may comprise a suitable sound insulating material. As stated previously the filler board may be of such materials as bonded cane fiber, bonded wood fiber, plywood, asbestos and cement composition, Fiberglas, or any other suitable rigid or semi-rigid material. It is preferred that the filler board 4 be fairly rigid since it provides a backing support for the steel cover plate 2 which latter is preferably quite thin and may be about 20 gauge rolled steel sheet. If desired the face of the cover plate 2 may be provided with a decorative design or a painted For convenience in describing and claiming the panel structure, the face of the sheet 2 to be ultimately exposed and appearing. as the bottom surface in Fig. 1, will be referred to asthe forward or front face of the panel. The opposite surface of panel 2 will be referred to as the rear face and hereinafter where the term rearwardly is employed applicant means a direction extending from the front face to and beyond the rear face of the panel.

The cover plate 2 extends laterally beyond the edges 6 of filler board 4 a substantial distance and are then turned rearwardly to define edges 8 for the panel. The rearwardly turned portions 8 defining the edges of the panel converge in a rearward direction relative to each other to define a somewhat rearwardly bevelled panel edge, for a purpose to be set forth later. Preferably each edge portion 8 extends rearwardly and inwardly at an angle of about 5 degrees from a plane perpendicular to the front face of the planar portion of the cover sheet 2. The edge portions 8 extend rearwardly a considerable distance greater than the thickness of the filler board 4 and are then turned inwardly as at 10 toward each other, then again outwardly as at 12 and extend to the inner face of the cover plate 2. The portions 12 constitute a side wall of longitudinal channels 14 having a bottom wall 16 and an inner wall 18. The bottom wall 16 lies in abutment with the rear face of the planar portion of the cover plate 2 and the material is preferably so stressed that the bottom walls 16 of channels 14 press with light pressure against the rear face of the cover plate 2. The side walls 12 and 18 of channels 14 converge rearwardly, each wall preferably extending at an angle of about 15 degrees to a plane. perp di a to the panel face;

The walls 18 are then continued upwardly to a reverse bend 20, then inwardly and forwardly to a bend 22 and then inwardly toward each other to define resilient portions 24 bearing against and resiliently pressing forwardly on the rear face of the edge portions of filler board 4. It will thus be seen that the panel consists of only two parts that need to be assembled to each other, one a metal sheet and the other a filler board. The metal sheet is so bent and shaped as to form resilient channels adapted to engage a supporting stud and having terminal edge portions 24 acting to hold the filler board 4 against the inner face of the cover plate 2. In

other words, the cover plate is so shaped as to form a major planar portion constituting the panel face, rearwardly opening resilient channels 14 and second channels defined by the portions 24 and 18 and a part of the front wall of the panel, which second channels face each other and receive opposite edge portions of the filler plate 4.

Fig. 2 illustrates the panel at an intermediate stage of assembly. First the cover sheet 2, which starts as a flat sheet of metal, is formed, preferably by rolling between suitable formed rollers, to the shape illustrated in Fig. 2 wherein the portions 24 are in the position shown by dotted lines. At this stage of fabrication the filler board 4 is positioned against and cemented to the rear face of the cover plate between the channels 14. It is contemplated that the cover plate 2, being of thin sheet metal, be sufficiently flexible to be distorted, within its elastic limit, sufficiently to permit insertion of the filler board in the position shown in the drawings. After the filler board 4 has been secured by a suitable adhesive in the position shown in Fig. 2 the marginal edge portions 24 of the cover plate may be permanently bent to the full line positions of Fig. 2 and a subsequent operation in a suitable machine further bends the portions 20 to position the edge portions 24 in their final position shown in Fig. 1 and the panel is thus complete.

Fig. 3 illustrates the manner in which adjacent panels constructed in accordance with the present invention may be assembled to a supporting structure to provide a substantially flush wall surface with only a thin line appearing at the joint between the panels. A suitable supporting structure such as a stud 30 may be provided with forward projections 32 having laterally projecting portions 34. The supporting structure may be of the type shown and fully described in the patent application of Walter A. Mayes (deceased), S. N. 62,570, filed November 29, 1948, for Stud, or may be any similar device. The projections 32 and the projecting portions 34 are so relatively positioned and are of such dimensions that the portions 34 are of a lateral dimension slightly greater than the opening into channels 14 whereby the edges of the panels may be brought into abutment as at 36 and their marginal channels snapped over the projections 32. The resilient nature of the channels 14 causes the panels to be urged inwardly against the supporting structure and to be held in such position until forcibly removed. The converging edge portions 8 of each panel permit the panels to be brought into abutment as shown in Fig. 3 at their forward edges while leaving a space between the edge portions 8 rearwardly of the front surface whereby those portions may spring outwardly a small amount to receive the portions 34 within the channels 14. The rearwardly converging nature of the edge portions 8 also insures snug contact between adjacent panels along the line 36.

As shown in Fig. 4 the edge channel structure is provided only along longitudinal edges of the panels, the top and bottom edges thereof appearing as shown at the top of Fig. 4. Upon assembly of the panels into a partition or wall structure the upper and lower edges thereof may be concealed or covered by suitable baseboard and/or cornice structures such as shown in the patent to Small, 2,277,794, dated March 31, 1942.

The dimensions and proportions of the parts appear in the drawings in approximately full scale but it is contemplated that the panels be fabricated in widths which may vary from 18 to 30 inches. The rolls for forming the edge portions of the panel to the shape shown in Fig. 2 may be provided with spacers or the like whereby the forming sections of the rolls may be spaced the desired distance apart to form panels of the desired width. The present invention provides a structure capable of rapid production by a simple machine operation and involving a forming operation of opposite edges only of a sheet. It will be evident that the panel of the present invention may be economically and rapidly produced by mass production methods. The single-piece nature of the cover plate permits forming by methods olfering the greatest degree of accuracy in the dimensions of the finished panel.

Referring again to Figure 3, it will be seen that the channels 14 are of a depth substantially greater than the thickness of the filler board 4 and thus a space is provided between the rear surface of the filler board and any supporting frame structure such as studs 30. The space thus provided may be employed for any of a number of purposes, such as additional insulation, wiring, or the like.

While a single specific embodiment of the invention has been shown and described herein it is to be understood that other modifications may be resorted to without departing from the spirit of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A wall panel comprising, a one-piece cover plate of resilient sheet metal, a filler board positioned against the rear face of said cover plate, integral opposite edge portions of said cover plate extending beyond the edges of said filler board a substantial distance then being bent to extend rearwardly to define opposed edges of said panel then inwardly toward each other, said inwardly bent portions being further bent to define rearwardly open channels having rearwardly converging resilient side walls and a bottom wall abutting the rear face of said cover plate between the adjacent edge of said filler board and the adjacent edge of said panel, said inwardly bent portions terminating in marginal edges overlying the rear edge portions of said filler board and resiliently bearing thereagainst.

2. A panel as defined in claim 1 wherein said rearwardly bent opposed edges of said panel converge rearwardly.

3. A panel as defined in claim 1 wherein said opposed edges of said panel and the side walls of said channels extend rearwardly a distance greater than the thickness of said filler board.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,023,452 Voegeli Dec. 10, 1935 2,078,281 Rowley et al. Apr. 27, 1937 2,186,511 Welch Jan. 9, 1940 2,277,791 Small Mar. 31. 1942 

